THE ETERNAL CIRCLE OF LIFE

HERDSMEN BATTLE SLEEPLESS NIGHTS, HUNGER AND COLD TO ENSURE HEALTH OF FLOCKS, LIVELIHOOD

Birth and death walk side by side among Dilai’s flock — that’s just the way things are on the Bayan Bulag grassland in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

It’s already April, but the grassland has yet to show any sign of spring’s arrival. With the sun absent, Dilai and his family have seen nothing but dark clouds and snow for three days. Pregnant ewes paw at the snow-frosted ground looking for grass, while newborn lambs shiver in the wind.

Bad weather during lambing season is the last thing any herdsmen on the grassland, who still preserve the traditions of grazing and migrating, wish for.

Dilai, 50, has been a shepherd on the fertile grassland for decades. The flock of 200 sheep he inherited from his father has expanded to 1,000, but this year, the weather has shown no mercy. The snow and cold have killed more than 5,000 livestock on the grassland this month alone.

In bleak conditions, Dilai and his family are doing their best, while preparing for the worst.

Every day, Dilai and his eldest son, Dovton, inspect the flock while on horseback. Dilai’s nephew, Qimti Cering, who comes along with his wife to help, watches any newborns that have been abandoned by their mothers.

Things can be cruel here. A lamb struggles to its feet and scrambles to its mother, only for her to give an angry bleat and dodge her newborn. The lamb approaches again, before being violently kicked by its irritated mother.

Thee we snorts and runs away, leaving her newborn in fear and trembling. It is the fourth time the lamb has been rejected by its mother.

Coldness and hunger paralyze the ewes’ mothering instincts. Many firsttime mothers are not able to take care of their newborns, so shepherds are needed to help the abandoned lambs.

The shepherds hold or bind the front legs of the mothers so that the lambs can suckle. Mothers that continually reject their newborns have them tied to their legs.

The shepherds anxiously watch their flock by night, with dozens of lambs expected to be delivered overnight. Without timely care, the new arrivals will die soon after birth.

Dilai and Qimti are on night watch and have to spend it in an open enclosure without heating and nothing but a small torch for light. For a month, they have to spend their nights in the enclosure, keeping an eye on the pregnant sheep, preventing them from running away or giving birth elsewhere. Dilai’s eyes are bloodshot after little sleep.

“The family’s income depends on the new lambs, so taking good care of them is crucial, even if it means we don’ t eat or sleep,” he said.

Wrapped in a quilt, he huddles up beside the enclosure, waiting, listening.

Dilai’s wife, Tuya, prepares supper at 11 pm. It is the family’s only chance to get together after a hard day’s work.

It is not the first storm that Dilai has lived through, but he has never thought about leaving. Life on the grass land is all he knows.

Tuya recalled that they only had a yurt, a bed and an offering table when they got married. But their work over the years has paid off. Now their children have houses and cars in the town.

In addition to annual government subsidies of 10,000 yuan ($1,400), Dilai earns 300,000 yuan from herding.

“I am a shepherd. Herding on the grassland is my life,” he said. “I won’t leave my flock until I’m too old to walk or ride my horse.”